Tray table arms are employed across the transportation segment in transportation vessels such as airplanes, trains, helicopters, and buses. For example, airplanes are equipped with tray tables for use by passengers during flight. Tray tables are typically stowed in the seatback of most passenger seats in a non-operative position and are lowered into an operative position during flight. Tray tables are customarily connected to a set of support arms (also referred to as tray table arms) which pivot downwardly from the seatback immediately forward of the passenger to the operative position. The support arms are commonly attached to the sides of the seat frame so as not to interfere with the living space of either passenger, and to support the tray table about each of its ends. Likewise, the tray table can be supported by a single support arm.
Tray table arms are generally made from isotropic metals such as aluminum due to their excellent isotropic mechanical properties as well as due to their lower weights as compared to metals such as steel. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical metal support arm 1. Such metal support arms are formed with uniform open sections that are C-shaped, where an exemplary C-shaped cross-section 10 taken along line A-A of FIG. 1 is illustrated in FIG. 2. The C-shaped cross-section is used in part due to the simplicity of the design in manufacturing and has the further benefit of acting as a shield to the moving stopper pin that is used for fine tuning the position of the table from the external interference, debris accumulation, and intentional abuse.
Weight reduction in aerospace components offers significant benefits in terms of cost reduction arising from fuel savings or more mileage from the same level of fuel. There accordingly remains a need in the art for a lighter weight support arm that does not experience premature failure.